


11 Days

by ravager_rose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A SAPPY SAP FIC, Domestic, M/M, Post-Voltron, Sheith Secret Santa 2016, concerned Shiro, im sorry, sick keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravager_rose/pseuds/ravager_rose
Summary: A sick fic. Post-Voltron. They are back on Earth. Keith gets his own apartment. Shiro is there.Keith is still madly, hopelessly in love with Shiro.What else is new.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for Nonis for the Sheith Secret Santa on Tumblr!  
> I really hope you like it, i'm really sorry for the delay :''') Also this is actually my first fic that i published for a veeeerrrryyy long time no, so i'm sorry if it's kinda weird.
> 
> I went for the After Voltron domestic things prompt, because i'm also a hoe for domestic sheith (yas)
> 
> This is basically a fic where they realized just how actually married they are, and begin their life together. 
> 
> Enjoy!

11 days. Keith counts. It has been 11 days he finds Shiro in his own apartment. It’s either a blessing or a curse, Keith doesn’t know. He’s not even sure if he wants to find out.

Shiro’s tousled hair, his black oversized NASA sweatshirt, his black winter boots scattered on Keith’s doorway are starting to become parts of Keith’s favorite things he finds in his home.

It just so happens to be Christmas week, and Tuesday night finds them both in Keith’s apartment. Keith is stretched out lifelessly on the couch in the living room that’s adjacent to the kitchen, while Shiro attempts to make them something to eat for dinner. 

Keith has been letting him do things like this for the last 11 days—don’t ask him why, because truth be told, Keith doesn’t know it either—and to say that he hasn’t been enjoying it would be a total lie though. Keith enjoys being around Shiro. For he is the only one that Keith feels most comfortable being with, and one of the few people that understands him the most.

He lulls himself to sleep with the low chatter coming from Shiro as he makes himself busy with Keith’s microwave, and Keith would hum his responds here and there. It’s relaxing, Keith thinks, to hear Shiro’s voice talking about random mundane things he did, rather than hearing him talking about Galra like he used to do, or shouting orders and missions to the team. 

Keith doesn’t miss it. He doesn’t miss the deep lines that appear on Shiro’s forehead when he worries. He also doesn’t miss Shiro’s bloodshot eyes during the days where they barely had any sleep. And he surely doesn’t miss the feeling of being unable to help him at all, to ease any pain Shiro has felt.

Keith tries to forget every moment where he almost lost Shiro for the second time, no, the third time, or was it even—Keith lost count actually. That moment where he desperately screamed for Shiro, grasping at nothing and everything. 

It was on their last mission. He remembers the dreadful feeling in the pit of Keith’s stomach that wouldn’t seem to go away, and it drives him crazy every time his eyes lands on Shiro. As if he knew something bad is going to happen.

And it did. 

Though their last mission was a success, they did pay a great cost along with it. Shiro, specifically, he had to spend the next two weeks in the healing pod due to his injuries. Keith thought he lost him again.

It takes every ounce of him not to break down and lose himself to madness. He doesn’t remember how many training bots he destroyed while trying to keep himself sane, because every time he looks at Shiro’s battered body inside the healing pod, Keith always finds himself shaking with fury. His body demanding to move, his hands itching to cause damage to those who have hurt Shiro. Even though there’s no one left. They have defeated Galra, and Zarkon is destroyed along with his minions. 

Still, it doesn’t make Keith’s heart at ease at all, and he hates himself for it. 

When the whole team is back on Earth. They are given the opportunity to continue their lives once more. The others embrace their old lives with smiles and laughter. Yet, Keith can’t help but to feel lost, as half of his life is still there in the castle, healing.

So he stays, making sure Shiro is in the right process to get better everyday and helps Allura and Coran around the castle. And once Shiro is discharged, Keith would finally move on and let go. He thinks it is for the best. The pain is too much for Keith to bear. Caring for someone, and worrying about them everyday. It’s draining. So he thought maybe if he leave everything he would also be free of his own feelings. 

But somewhere between the sleepless nights, the limitless stock of food goo, and Coran’s ramblings, Allura raises the subject about the reason why Keith stayed. He doesn’t reply it the first time, and then would always politely avoid the topic when raised.

Though he never mentioned it, Allura and Coran could already put the pieces together, and the reason was obvious.

Months later, he managed to find himself an apartment to live in, a decent job, even a cat pet. His new life is good. He genuinely thought he finally moved on.  
But apparently the universe had other plans for Keith, because no matter how everything in his life has changed, it didn’t stop him to find Shiro at his door.

Now that they’re here, no more life in space and aliens to fight, it still feels strange to Keith. Waking up to the warm ray of sunlight coming from the window rather than the coldness of the metal wall or the blaring sound of the emergency alarm. Keith thinks he will never get used to it.

“Keith.” 

The voice brings him back from his thoughts. He opens his eyes and meets a pair of grey orbs staring back at him. He finds his body covered by the obnoxious red and green wool blanket that Lance and Hunk bought him as a Christmas present. He loathes it, but he’s currently in a position where he doesn’t have any energy to move a muscle, so he stays.

“Did I fall asleep?” Keith croaked, rubbing his eyes. 

“I kind of guessed,” Shiro smiles, sitting down on the edge of the couch. “How are you feeling?”

“M’kay,” Keith mumbles, closing his eyes again. He feels the palm of Shiro’s human hand brushing the hair that sticks to his forehead, and unconsciously nuzzles his face to the touch. “I’ll be fine, Shiro, you should go home.”

“Not before you eat something first.” 

“Stop babysitting me, I’m fine,” he says again, follows by a cough then a low groan.

Somehow Shiro’s hand is still settled on Keith’s head, and the warmness of the palm starts to burn on his skin. He swats Shiro’s hand away.

Though it isn’t like this is the first time Shiro touches Keith. It’s just that whenever they make contact it messes with Keith’s heart rate, and apparently his breathing too, and all parts of his insides just decide to _twist_.

With Shiro being around Keith everyday certainly doesn’t help him to get over whatever it is he’s been feeling. He thinks he’s over it, buried along the rotting bodies of Galran soldiers somewhere in space. But seeing Shiro standing there by his door with that gorgeous grin on his lips, Keith just couldn’t find a good enough reason to slam his door right at his face. He could already feel all of the feelings he thought he’s buried in the deepest part of his heart come crashing down again.

So Keith decides to welcome them back with open arms.

But that doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing from there, because every time Shiro initiates contact, Keith’s ability to think just _stops_. He sometimes likes to unknowingly places his hand on the small of Keith’s back at the most random times. The warmness of Shiro’s hand just _burns_ Keith, he almost lost balance once (of course Shiro catches him, and Keith just laughs it off and blames it on his sickness).

And Keith doesn’t know why Shiro is even here in the first place. He brings up the question once in a while, and Shiro would only smile and answers something along the lines of “I’ll leave once you’re better.”

But Keith _is_ better, but Shiro is still here.

And Keith is pretty damn sure he’s still hopelessly in love with the boy in front of him. He loves the scars that spread over his body, he loves the ridiculous lame jokes Shiro sometimes throws around when he least expects it, he loves his failed attempts in making Keith dessert cakes, heck, it’s crystal clear that he’ll still be in love with this idiot if he catches him dancing to The Spice Girls in a onesie.

Keith cringes at the thought of the likelihood of him being more in love with Shiro. He simply just doesn’t think it’s within the realms of possibility that Keith could love him more. That’s just not possible.

Shiro catches Keith with his signature brooding look that’s apparently emerging on his face.

“You’re making that face again, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You look like you’re thinking about finding a cure for cancer or something,” Shiro chuckles. “What’s wrong, Keith?

“Nothing,” Keith shrugs, shifting his position. He quickly brushes away the thoughts that are slowly eating his mind, and focuses on the figure in front of him.

“It’s late, isn’t it?” Shiro only hummed, his eyes never leaving the younger man. Keith flinches at his stare. “Stop staring at me like that.”

That seems to catch Shiro off guard with Keith’s tone. He quickly averts his eyes to his feet. 

Keith doesn’t know it, but Shiro thinks seeing him was like seeing stars, full of mystery and beauty all at once. He always tries to distract himself from staring at those pair of eyes for too long. Yet, he always finds himself getting lost in them. It’s getting hard not to day by day, with Shiro spending too much time being in Keith’s apartment lately.

“I just heated the leftovers from yesterday,” Shiro tries again. “Wanna eat some of that?”

“No, Shiro, I don’t feel like eating.”

“Well, okay,” Keith hears Shiro sighing. “You want to watch a movie maybe?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then what do you want, Keith,” he can hear the frustration growing in Shiro’s voice, tired but still a hint of hope to it. “Talk to me here.”

Keith’s mind swirls with words he wants to speak, it’s starting to give him a headache. “Shiro.”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

Keith sighs, “It’s been 11 days, and you’re still here, aren’t you tired of me?”

“You’re sick, I can’t leave you alone—“

“Stop that,” he huffs. “Why are you here, really?” He can already feel his energy draining from asking such a simple question.  
Shiro tenses at Keith’s confrontation. His hand slips away from Keith and turns so that his gaze locks on his own.

“I—“ Shiro starts, but he can’t seem to get the next word out. 

Keith peeks at Shiro. It might have been Keith’s mind playing tricks on him, but he would bet on his life that he just witness something so rare he just has to look twice, Takashi Shirogane, just blushed. Though his head is turned away from Keith’s view, but he could have sworn he catches Shiro’s cheeks gives off just that hint of pink.

Keith has never seen Shiro blushes before, and he’s sure it’s one of the things that should be put in a museum or something. 

“You’re blushing,” he states.

“I’m not!” Shiro immediately twists his head to Keith, which only makes him laugh because his face is pretty much crimson right now.

“If only I have my phone with me,” he says, chuckling. “I can’t believe I just made you blush.”

“Well, I have you to blame for that,” he says, turning away again.

Silence fills the room once more. Shiro fiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt while Keith seems to be entertained by the stitching of the blanket’s fabric. Though the two remain wordless, but their minds are exploding with emotions, emotions that are dying to spill for a long time now, a little too long maybe.

“I came here to make sure,” Shiro breaks the silence, shifting at his seat.

“Make sure of what?”

“J—just—you know,” Keith actually can’t believe this. This is the first time he made Shiro blush _and_ stutter in one night. “To make sure everything I heard was right,” he continues.

“What are you saying?” He can feel his heart thumping too fast, feels his body goes warm all over. He kicks the blanket off him but immediately regrets it because he has no object to cover his burning face anymore.

“Well, when everyone left the castle, I was still in the healing pod,” Shiro carries on, Keith has no choice but to listen, “but when I was discharged—well when I was moved to the med bay, I was told that you were still there.”

“True,” Keith remarks.

“Then Allura told me you never left my side,” Shiro smiles, “she even said you actually slept on the floor and Coran had to move you to an actual bed.”

Keith swallows, “true.”

“Then—then, huh,” Keith glances over to Shiro. He’s resting his elbows on his knees now, while hiding his face in both of his palms. “When I woke up, you weren’t there anymore, but Allura told me something.”

Keith goes silent. With no more blankets to hide in, he avoids Shiro’s gaze by covering his face with the crook of his elbow while trying to bury himself into the cushions again.

Shiro accepts his stillness as a cue to continue. After stealing a look at Keith, he takes a deep breath and goes on. 

“She told me you loved me,” he remarks. 

The room falls so quiet. The only thing they can hear is the dripping sound of the water that’s leaking from the faucet, and probably the sounds of their own heartbeats.  
Keith knows sooner or later they would have this conversation, but what he dreads the most is how bad the timing is, and how everything has pretty much catches him off guard.

He tries to remember the times when he’s like this, at lost at what to do. It doesn’t feel like him at all, and he’s not sure if he likes it or not. It’s not that he’s incapable in facing his own feelings, but Keith is just too used to repressing everything inside, but when the universe demands him to pour everything out, he’s at lost at what move he should take.

Keith only knows how to love Shiro quietly, as he’s been doing it for so long. He accepted it long ago, and has learned to live with it.  
But Shiro’s here now, and he’s actually waiting for his answer. Everything just seems too good to be true. 

But Keith takes a deep breath, willing to make the jump once more “True.”

He counts the seconds that went by as he hears nothing from Shiro. Keith doesn’t care anymore. Shiro deserves to know how he feels, and Keith will survive the pain if Shiro rejects him, and will continue to love him quietly like he’s used to. 

So he expects the heartbreak to come anytime now. 

“Why weren’t you there when I woke up?” comes Shiro’s voice, breaking Keith’s train of thoughts. “You disappeared, just like that,” Shiro urges on. “Without even giving me a chance to say anything.”

“What? You’re expecting an apology?”

“Keith—“

“Well, I’m sorry, Shiro,” Keith squeezes his eyes closed, his voice trembling. “Nobody fucking told me what I’m supposed to do after I confessed my undying love for someone, I guess I freaked out, and besides, I couldn’t take it.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means I couldn’t stand seeing you like that,” Keith breathes. “You were in a coma—I almost lost you again.”

“But you didn’t.”

That earns Shiro a glance. He’s staring at Keith now, looking expectant, the deep lines appearing on his face again.

“It still hurts,” says Keith, “maybe it would be better if I didn’t fall for you.”

“But you did.”

“Unfortunately.”

Shiro only chuckles, his eyes wandering around the view from the window in front of him. It displays soft glows of the Christmas city lights outside, its vibrant colors bouncing around his face.

Shiro looks so beautiful. Keith has to look away to distract himself, so he curls himself into a fetal position in an attempt to hide away.  
He feels the press Shiro’s palm on his shoulder. “Will you look at me?” whispers Shiro. “Please, Keith.”

He slowly removes his hand and meets Shiro’s gaze. 

“Keith, you know how I feel about you, you’re very important to me,” Shiro closes his eyes, sighing, “But as far as Voltron is concerned, I had to consider every step I take for the team’s sake, and I can’t show any weakness as long as I’m the one who leads them, so you know I can’t just act how I want.”

“So are you saying I’m your weakness?” 

Shiro smiles, “always has been.”

Keith sighs. His hands actually itches to touch the body in front of him, so he settles them on Shiro’s arm, squeezing him. “But it’s all over now, we made it through.”

“You’re right,” mumbles Shiro.

“So what now?”

“We move on,” he says, clasping the hand on his arm and brings it to his lips. Keith watches him as he kissed the back of his hand.

Keith slowly forces himself to sit up. His face is still a little too hot and maybe a little too red, but he can’t find any energy where he cares of how he looks right now.

“Will you say it again? I want to hear you say it.”

Keith sighs loudly, “what for? You already know how I feel.”

“Just for my peace of mind?” Shiro urges again, his eyes gleaming with hope. “Please?”

He feels his face burning red, then plants his face on Shiro’s shoulder, “I love you, Takashi.”

Shiro literally gives zero chance for Keith to say anything more and now he’s already breathless by how tight Shiro is squeezing him. He grabs Keith off his seat and pulls him into an embrace. Keith instinctively wraps his arms around Shiro’s shoulder to keep his balance, as he is practically being _dragged_ to Shiro’s lap.

“What’s this?”

“I’m hugging you,” Keith hears Shiro’s voice, muffled with his face buried in the crook of Keith’s neck.

A smile tugs on his lips, and then slowly moves his head to place a kiss on Shiro’s head. They stay like that for the next two minutes, words unspoken, just the two of them holding on to each other to make up for lost time.

Keith doesn’t want this to end. None of them do to be exact. He has waited for this moment for far too long now. Keith tightens his grip around Shiro’s body, refusing to move.

“Keith, I can’t breathe,” Shiro chokes.

“Just a little longer, please,” he whispers. _I need to feel you_.

Keith hears Shiro’s faint voice as a hand starts stroking the back of his head, “Okay,” says Shiro, “Okay, I’m not going anywhere.”

Keith is too fixated on feeling his body pressing against Shiro’s to respond, while his mind is still trying to process this whole situation. But this isn’t the time to think about anything, really. Shiro is here with him, and that’s all that matters.

“Keith.”

“Yeah.”

“May I kiss you?” Shiro suddenly asks.

Keith shifts on Shiro’s lap and finally lets go of his embrace. “I might sneeze on you.”

“Heh, I’ll live.”

With that, he closes the small gap between them, pressing his lips to Keith’s in a chaste kiss. It all ends too quickly for Keith’s liking, so he wraps his arms around Shiro’s neck and pulls him back again. This time longer, bolder.

When they parted, Keith rests his forehead on Shiro's but catches a frown forming on his lips. "What's wrong?"

“You taste like death,” Shiro states, “must be the medicine.”

Keith only groans and buries his head to Shiro’s chest. “I hate you.”

He feels the vibration coming from Shiro’s body while a pair of hands snake around his waist. His laughs sounds like music to Keith’s ears. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Then they spent the next two hours cuddling and making out, until one time Keith actually sneezed on him lmao RIP Shiro
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!!


End file.
